Trial by Fire
by t-smitts
Summary: The discovery of a number of burned bodies under a warehouse puts the squad on the case of a serial killer. Meanwhile, Lilly finds help from an unlikely and dangerous source. COMPLETE! Read and review, please!
1. Chapter 1

_Trial by Fire_

_The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event._

_February 8, 1999_

_("Semi-Charmed Life" - Third Eye Blind)_

_The waitress winced as she carried the towering stack of plates into the kitchen and over to the dishwasher. "Here you go, Tom." she said with more than a hint of strain in her voice as she set them down._

_Tom Armstrong, the burly, middle-aged cook, immediately stepped away from his grill and hurried over to the twenty year-old, brown-haired waitress. "Hey, Amelia, you don't need to carry so many at once." He said with a friendly, but slightly admonishing tone. "The rush is over. I don't want you getting hurt or anything."_

_Amelia Fuentes rolled her eyes before giving him a smile. "I'm fine, Tom. Nothing's gonna happen."_

_Tom smiled back. "Okay, so anyone left?"_

_Amelia smirked and gestured with her head to one of the tables in the diner. "Just you-know-who."_

_"Oh, him." Tom sighed, looking through the kitchen to the table in the corner, where the diner's sole occupant, a twenty-something young man, was staring into the laptop on his table, typing away, with only brief pauses to sip his coffee. The plate of bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns had barely been touched._

_Tom shook his head. "I still say there's somethin' off about that guy."_

_Amelia cocked her head and put her hands on her hips. "Come on, leave him alone. He's nice, he doesn't bother anyone, always leaves a nice tip. So what if he not that chatty?"_

_Tom just looked at her skeptically. "I'm just sayin' it's always the quiet ones who try somethin'."_

_Amelia sighed and rolled her eyes again. "I'm gonna go see if he needs a refill."_

_She picked up the coffee pot and walked over to the young man's table, where he was still engrossed in the laptop, typing relentlessly._

"_Charlie?" she asked, causing him to jolt slightly, stop typing, and look up at her. "Sorry to startle to you." She said with a smile, holding up the pot. "Just wondering if you wanted me to top you off."_

_Charlie nodded nervously. "Uhhh... yeah, thanks."_

_She looked over at the ignored plate of food. "You know, that's gonna get cold."_

_Charlie looked down at the plate, then back up at her. "Oh, uh, don't worry. I'll eat it. I'm just trying to finish this." He gestured to the laptop screen._

"_You know I see you in here all the time on this thing." Amelia bent over and peeked at the screen curiously. "Never really seen one of these up close." She leaned closer, with her head right next to Charlie's, before turning to him. "What do you do on this anyway?"_

_Charlie, looking slightly flustered for a moment, seem to pause to find his words. "Uhhh, well it's article I'm writing for an industry journal."_

"_Oh yeah? What kind of article?"_

_Charlie shifted uneasily. "Uh, well it's a lot of technical stuff. Most people think it's boring."_

"_Oh." she said with a trace of disappointment. She stood up, then shrugged, and poured some coffee into his cup. "Okay, well let me know if you want some more."_

_Charlie watched her walk off, struggling to say something. "I.. It's about aerodynamics." He finally blurted out._

_Amelia stopped and turned around, smiling slightly. "Aerodynamics? You mean like with airplanes?"_

_Charlie gave something between a nod and a shrug. "Mostly. It's all just designs right now, but there's a lot of applications. NASA's even shown some interest in it."_

"_Yeah? Cool." Amelia said with a friendly smile, before walking off_

_Charlie nodded. "Yeah," he said quietly to himself, looking uneasily as she walked away. "It is."_

***

_Charlie couldn't even tell what time of day it was with the bright light shining across his face as he came to once again. He'd already figured out the man had drugged him before, though he still didn't know where he was. The most terrifying moment had probably been the first time he came to on the slab and realized he was naked, but so far the guy hadn't tried anything._

_The man hadn't seemed concerned before when Charlie pulled at the plastic restraints keeping him down, or when he first screamed for help. He simply said there was no one around to hear him._

_The last time Charlie came to, the man had had a lot to say, but this time he appeared to be silent. Charlie didn't know why, but it made his blood run cold._

_Finally, the man picked something up off a nearby table, walked over the slab Charlie was on, and held it up to him. It was a newspaper. The same one the man had shown him before. Charlie squinted in the light until he could read the article on it, the same one the man had shown him before._

"_You still think you're brave?" The man finally said._

"_Please." Charlie whispered from his raw throat between breaths. "Please, why are you doing this?"_

"_You still think you're brave?" The man repeated. Not waiting for an answer, he pulled the cigarette from his mouth and pressed it gently against the newspaper until a small flame started. As the fire grew, the man walked over to Charlie, holding it closer to him._

_It was only then that Charlie finally noticed the strange smell that had been bothering his nose since he came to this time. The smell that hadn't been there before._

_The smell coming from all over his own body._

_The man dropped the burning newspaper on Charlie's chest and the flames spread immediately._

_Charlie screamed as long as he could._

***

Early morning sunlight crept through the broken windows of the dilapidated warehouse. Detectives Lilly Rush and Scotty Valens looked around the as they walked through, maneuvering around the refuse strewn around. Scotty's nose wrinkled with disgust as his eyes scanned over the various broken beer bottles, used condoms, and even a few discarded t-shirts and a small, broken, refrigerator. "What's an empty building without a few keggers over the years?" He said.

Lilly just rolled her eyes. "Teenagers gotta party somewhere."

"Hey, speaking of parties, join ours." Detective Nick Vera waving them over to a corner where a few other officers were gathered.

"So who found them?" Lilly asked.

"Demolition crew inspecting the site." Vera said. "The owner's doing a stretch for tax evasion and his property got seized. City was finally getting around to leveling this dump when the guys found this." He gestured to a door in the floor painted to match the rest of the area, except for the various burns over it. "Sort of a hidden basement."

Scotty looked it over. "Clever way to hide something in plain sight."

Vera nodded. "Demolition crew almost missed it except for the burn marks over it."

"Which is why I got brought in." The short, dark-haired man walking over to them said.

"Hey, Louie." Lilly said with a smile. "They dragged you out here too?"

Louie Amante shrugged with a slight smile. "Yeah, nobody ever starts a fire someplace nice." His face turned serious as he gestured to the door and the stairs under it. "Anyway, the real action's downstairs."

***

Louie led the detectives down the stairs into a room completely unlike the one above. Even with the lights the police had brought in, the floor and walls were black.

"Somebody's been startin' a lotta fires down here over a long time." Louie said, grimly. "Some going back years, some maybe a few months ago."

"Owner's been locked up since '04." Vera said.

Louie pointed to a hole in the corner of the ceiling, where a trace of light was shining through. "They drilled a hole up into the old incinerator upstairs, giving the smoke somewhere to go. Otherwise they would've asphyxiated down here." He turned to the detectives. "I'll leave the horror show to you guys "

The detectives walked over to the wall just below the hole in the ceiling. A medical examiner was crouching over three charred, blackened corpses, each laid out over a slab, while an older man was standing over her.

"Boss?" Lilly said, after taking a long look at the bodies. "Any I.D. on the bodies?"

The older man, Lieutenant John Stillman, shook his head. "Nothing on them. No trace of clothing." He pointed at each of the remains. "Two male, one female. Accelerant on each of the bodies."

Scotty looked over the bodies. "Serial killer trying to dispose of the remains."

"Not exactly." Frannie Ching, the medical examiner said, with a solemn look on her face, before pointing to the left wrist on one of the bodies. "There's melted plastic over the wrists, ankles, and neck."

"They were tied down." Lilly said uneasily.

"Nobody ties down a dead body." Scotty said. "Unless..."

"They were burned alive." Vera growled.

Frannie nodded and sighed. "Looks that way."

Louie folded his arms and walked closer, still keeping his distance from the bodies. "The accelerant here woulda burned slow at a relatively low temperature."

"So whoever did this didn't want it over too quick. He wanted them to suffer" Lilly said. "The question is what for?"

Scotty crouched down to look at the face of one of the bodies, looking into a pair of darkened eye sockets. "When we find this son of a bitch, we can ask him."

ROLL INTRO


	2. Chapter 2

"Missing Persons I.D. our bodies?" Detective Will Jeffries asked Stillman as the lieutenant walked in the squad, files in hand.

"All three of them." Stillman said, handing out the files, each with pictures of a victim attached. "Charlie Keefe, twenty-five, missing since April '99. Victor Rodriguez, forty-one, missing since April '03. Laurie Carter, thirty, missing since April '07."

"All in April?" Scotty said, looking over Laurie's file. "What's that about?"

"Different ages, ethnicities." Lilly said.

"Charlie Keefe was a freelance journalist, mostly technical stuff. No family" Vera said, reading his file.

"No family for Victor Rodriguez either. Worked as a data analyst at an insurance company." Detective Kat Miller said.

"Laurie Carter was a filing clerk at a research lab." Scotty added. "Had a husband, Ben Carter. No connections here."

"They're all kinda loner jobs." Kat said, shrugging.

"I could see somebody wantin' to torch an insurance guy, but that doesn't explain the other two." Vera said.

Stillman shook his head. "These guys always have a type. These three have something in common. We just haven't found it yet." He looked at the detectives solemnly. "In the mean time, we better inform Ben Carter we found his wife."

The detectives stood up and headed off in various directions. Lilly paused as she noticed Kat still looking over the files. Kat sighed and shook her head.

"Been here almost four years. I still can't wrap my head around what can make someone wanna do this, then do it again and again."

Lilly shrugged. "Why does someone want to bury people alive in graves, or hunt women in the woods, take their heads as trophies? I'm just glad whatever they have, we don't."

***

Sitting on a couch in the living room of his Chestnut Hill home, Ben Carter breathed a heavy sigh. "Are- are you sure? I mean, is it possible there was a mistake?"

Lilly shook her head solemnly. "We very sorry for your loss."

"Mr. Carter, can you think of anyone who might've wanted to hurt your wife?" Scotty asked gently. "Any enemies?"

Ben shook his head with confusion. "She didn't really have any friends, much less enemies. She worked in the basement of that lab by herself. I worked long hours, so most of our time was just on the phone." He swallowed hard. "I still remember the last phone call we had."

"Something happen?" Lilly asked.

Ben shook his head. "No. We were just..." He shrugged sadly. "Talking..."

***

_("You Get Me" - Michelle Branch)_

_Laurie smiled as she leaned back in her chair. "So what were you thinking for dinner tonight?"_

_In his office, Ben scratched the back of his head and groaned. "Oh, I'm probably gonna be here late again. Client's still not happy with the ad campaign, gonna drag this out forever, no matter what we say. You probably shouldn't wait up for me."_

_Laurie sighed, trying to project her pouting face through her cell phone. "I hardly see you anymore."_

_Ben lowered his head and nodded. "I know, I know. Look, maybe we could go away soon. Take a little trip? Go up to that B&B you've been talking about?"_

_Laurie's smile returned. "Yeah, sure. We could do that."_

"_There you go."_

"_How about this weekend? I could call them today, see if I could get a reservation?"_

_An uneasy look crept over Ben. "Oh, I... I can't this weekend. I got a business dinner on Friday. It's probably gonna be late too."_

_The disappointment returned to Laurie's face. "Another one?"_

"_I'm sorry. You know how these guys are."_

_Laurie just looked into the phone, slightly hurt, and said nothing._

"_I tell you what," Ben said. "Next weekend, we'll go up there, we'll rent a boat. We'll have the beautiful open water all to ourselves. How does that sound?"_

_Laurie let her mouth widen into a slight smile. "That sounds great."_

"_Okay." Ben said with a hint of a laugh, before looking down at the forms on his desk. "Well, listen, I gotta get back to work on this if I ever wanna get out of here."_

"_Okay." Laurie said gently. "I love you."_

"_I love you too."_

***

A look of disbelief passed over Ben's face.. "You never imagine that's the last conversation you're gonna have with someone. I just kept talking about working late."

Lilly and Scotty nodded solemnly.

"You know most people didn't get a chance to see it, but she had sides that could really surprise you."

Lilly smiled. "Yeah?"

"A few months earlier, she'd actually saved a kid from drowning. The most amazing thing I ever saw."

The two detectives listened intently.

"A bunch of people from her work were at a hotel for this convention, and this little kid had wandered off from his parents and ended up falling into the pool. Laurie was the first one to see it. Without even hesitating, she dove in, pulled him out, did mouth to mouth until he started breathing again." Ben looked far away for a moment. "I just couldn't believe it."

***

Philadelphia Technical College wasn't one of the city's larger colleges. Still, Lilly and Kat had some hunting to do to find Amelia Fuentes' classroom just as she was leaving.

"Aeronautical engineering?" Kat asked, after they'd introduced themselves.

Amelia shrugged. "I wanted something with some applications when I finally went back to school. You know, better late than never. It seemed like something interesting and it's not like they're gonna stop building planes, right?" She said with a smile.

"Amelia, you worked at the Germantown Grill ten years ago." Kat started.

Amelia nodded. "Still do sometimes. Tom lets me pick up a shift or two when I'm a little short."

"You remember a regular there around that time, Charlie Keefe?" Lilly asked, handing her a photo of Charlie.

Amelia looked at the photo for a moment, her smile fading, then looked at the detectives uneasily. "Yeah? Why, what's this about?"

"His remains have been found." Lilly said

Amelia looked at Lilly for a moment, then back down at the photo. She put the back of her hand to her quivering lips as her eyes started welling up.

"You two were close?" Kat asked after giving her a moment.

"He was always the first customer of the day." Amelia whispered. "He'd just sit there, typing away at his computer, hardly said anything to anyone. I thought he was just shy or focused on his writing." She looked at the detectives again. "Then one day, he did something I'll never forget..."

***

"_Tom?" Amelia called into the empty diner, hanging up her jacket. "Sorry I'm late! Tom?" She scanned around the diner until she finally saw the note stuck to the entrance to the kitchen. "Out of O.J." Amelia said, rolling her eyes as she read the note. "Getting some from the 24-hour store, be back in ten, Tom." Amelia shook her head and sighed. "Great."_

_She headed back towards the front door to lock it, when it swung open violently. In an inhumanly fast motion, a fist soared through the door and connected with her cheek, knocking her down. A second later, the dark-haired man was through the door, kicking it shut behind him._

_Amelia immediately broke into a run towards the back, knocking over chairs as she ran towards the back, but as quickly as before, a hand was on her shoulder, spinning her around, before it clamped down over her mouth, while the other hand held a metal object to her throat._

"_Shut up! Shut up!" The man hissed, pushing her towards the kitchen, then forcing her to the floor. "_Do not _scream, or I'll cut your throat!"_

"_There's... there's money in the register!" She whispered between rapid breaths when he finally released his hands from her mouth. "Just... just take it!"_

_The dark-haired man glanced up at the register a few feet away for a second, then back down at her. The look of hunger growing on his face terrified her._

_He wasn't here for money._

_As this realization sunk in, she summoned whatever strength she had to get back up to her feet, before running to the back door, picking up a large pan on the counter along the way, and hurling it at the man, who simply deflected it away._

_Again, however, the inhuman speed caught up with her, pulling her to the floor and pinning her._

"_Please! Please!" Amelia whispered as the knife again found her throat._

"_This is gonna happen!" The dark-haired man hissed into her ear, with a hint of a growl. "You try to struggle or scream, it's just gonna be worse."_

_Amelia winced as the man reached down to his belt to start unfastening it._

_She finally opened her eyes to see the sadistic look of pleasure growing on his face. "Always wanted a little Philly."_

_Neither of them had heard the movement behind the dark-haired man. Amelia finally noticed it when she saw the empty coffee pot raised above the man, before it swung down on his head. The pot shattered, a rain of glass falling all around the man, whose eyes were rolling into the back of his head before closing, then finally slumping to one side._

_It was only after she squirmed her way out from under the unconscious man that she looked up to see Charlie, his hand still gripping the coffee pot's plastic handle with only a few shards still clinging to it, a mixed look of shock and concern on his face._

"_Are you all right?" He asked simply after a few moments._

_She nodded rapidly, before stepping over her assailant to crush Charlie in a hug. It was a few more moments before his arms finally found their way around her..._

***

"The cops linked him to a rape in Pittsburgh and two more in New York." Amelia said with a far away look as she pulled her arms around herself. "All three of them got cut up pretty bad."

"Lucky he showed up." Kat said solemnly.

"Yeah, I was." Amelia answered curtly.

"Can you think of anyone who might've wanted to hurt Charlie?" Lilly asked.

"No!" Amelia said. "Like I said, he was just there with his laptop everyday, never hurt anyone, hardly said a word. I'm sorry, I don't know anything."

The detective nodded as Lilly handed her a card. "If you think of anything else..."

Amelia nodded, closed her eyes and sighed, before looking back up at them, disappointment in her eyes now . "He saved my life, and this is the hand life dealt him. If you ask me, it really sucks."

As Amelia walked off, Lilly looked away for a few seconds, before Kat folded her arms and looked at her. "You gonna tell me what you're thinkin'?" She asked.

Lilly started walked. "I'm thinking I gotta check out something about Victor Rodriguez."

***

Lilly knocked on the door to Stillman's office before being waved in, Vera behind her. "We got it." She announced.

Vera glanced at the document he was carrying. "Victor Rodriguez helped a guy who'd fallen on the subway tracks back in December of '02, pushed him out of the way before a train hit him."

"December '02, that's just a few months before he went missing." Stillman said, leaning back.

"It was a few months before for all three of them." Lilly said, nodded. "_That's_ what they have in common. They all saved someone's life."

"So this guy's picking heroes." Vera said. "Why? What's he got against them?"

Lilly looked at Vera, then Stillman. "Now that we know who he's going after, maybe we can find out."


	3. Chapter 3

"Thanks for coming in, Tom." Stillman said to the burly, middle-aged cook sitting down in his office.

"Yeah, sure. Anything I can do to help." Tom Armstrong nodded before shaking his head and nodded. "Somebody you see everyday, somethin' like this happening, you just never think that."

"So how long was Charlie was a regular at your diner?" Kat asked, sitting down.

"I guess pretty close to a year." Tom sighed. "You know, lookin' back, I feel a little bad."

"Why's that?" Kat asked.

Tom shrugged. "I gave him kind of a chilly reception. I thought he was a bit of an odd duck, sitting in front of his computer, hardly saying anything to anyone. I actually thought maybe he'd turn out to be some kinda Ted Bundy or Unabomber type. It wasn't until after what happened with Amelia that I realize how wrong I was. Then a few weeks later he just stopped showing up."

"Did anyone come around asking about Charlie after Amelia was attacked?" Stillman asked.

Tom nodded. "Couple of reporters doing those human interest stories and such." He paused and squinted slightly. "Now that I think about it, there was one that kinda stood out. I thought he was a little nosy, even for a reporter..."

***

_("Time Bomb" - Dave Matthews Band)_

_Charlie didn't look up from his laptop until Tom placed the plate of food next to it._

"_This is on the house." Tom said evenly. "Like I said before, from now on, your money's no good here, understand?"_

"_Okay." Charlie said with a slight nod. "How's Amelia?"_

"_She said she's better but I told her to take a few more days."_

"_Well, that's probably a good idea."_

_Tom gestured at the plate as a slight smirk appeared on his face. "Try not to let it get cold again."_

_Charlie smiled as Tom turned back towards the kitchen, pausing as he saw the door open and a young man walk though it. A late twenty something in a brown jacket and jeans, he looked rather unassuming except for the piercing look his gave, without even staring at anything in particular._

_As Tom walked over to grab a menu, the young man took the cigarette out of his mouth and held up a hand. "It's all right," he said, exhaling smoke. "I just wanted a cup of coffee."_

_The young man passed by Charlie's table, gave a slight notice at Charlie, whose face was in his laptop. The young man stared for a moment, before pointing his finger. "Hey, you're the guy in the paper, right? The one who saved that waitress, uhhh... Charlie... Keefe, right?"_

"_Uhhh..." Charlie shifted nervously in his chair._

"_Yeah, it's you." The young man said with a smile growing on his face. "The papers were talking about a hero you were."_

"_Uh, it wasn't that big a deal."_

"_Hey, hey, don't sell yourself short." The young man said, leaning closer. "That was really brave, saving her like that." The young man took a puff from his cigarette and looked down at the seat across the table from Charlie. "Mind if I have a seat?" He quickly sat down before Charlie could say anything and extended a hand, which Charlie reluctantly shook. "My name's Elliott Franks. I work for the _Philly Sun_."_

_Charlie lowered his head and rolled his eyes. "You're another reporter." He said under his breath._

"_Look, I know you're probably sick to death of people like me by now." Elliott said with a softer. "I was just hoping for a few minutes of your time. I thought maybe I could find an angle to this story the other guys haven't covered yet, you know, one journalist to another."_

_Charlie glanced at his laptop, then back at Elliott. "It's not quite the same thing, what we do."_

_Elliott shrugged. "Well, maybe it's different stories, but you still gotta get to the bottom of it before you can print it. You know, like you did with that piece in _Aeronautics Quarterly_ last year."_

_Charlie stared intently. "You know about that?"_

_Elliott nodded. "Yeah, I read it. You had some interesting conclusions, plus you were dead on about who was gonna get that big government contract."_

_Charlie smiled slightly. "It was just an educated guess. A lot of people would've figured the same."_

_Elliott gave a facial shrug. "Doesn't change the fact that you called it."_

_Charlie's smile grew, until he noticed Tom walking over to the table._

"_Is this guy bothering you, Charlie?" Tom asked, his arms folded in disapproval._

_Looking at Elliott for a moment, Charlie then turned to Tom with a smile. "No, it's fine."_

_Tom turned at walked away, heaving a sigh._

"_So what did you want to know?" Charlie asked. Before Elliott could respond, Charlie coughed slightly, as wisps of smoke from Elliott's cigarette found their way across the table._

_Elliott held up the cigarette. "Oh, I'm sorry. Is this bothering you?" Without a word, Elliott pulled an ashtray out from the corner of the table and pushed the cigarette into it, snuffing it out._

"_Is that better?" Elliott asked with a grin._

***

"That guy always rubbed me the wrong way." Tom said. "Looked to me like he was just buttering Charlie up, showin' an interest in his work. I didn't hear the whole interview, I had other customers, but eventually, he started askin' real personal stuff."

"Like what?" Kat asked.

"Stuff like 'Oh, what about that pretty waitress?' 'Do you like her?' 'Is she why you always come in here?' 'You ever asked her out?' 'Why _haven't_ you asked her out?'"

"He ever end up writing that article?" Stillman asked.

"Not as far as I know." Tom shook his head. "That guy _really_ rubbed me the wrong way." He sighed and shrugged. "But I've been wrong before."

***

Sitting in the office lunchroom, the thin, bald, middle-aged man sighed as he processed what Vera and Jeffries had told him about Victor.

"So word around here, Roy, is you were Victor's buddy around the office." Vera said.

Roy shrugged. "Well kind of. We talked a bit at work, I think mainly cause our cubicles were right next to each other. We didn't really socialize outside of work though. Victor was a nice guy, he just wasn't really the outgoing type. Kinda just blended in." Roy smirked slightly. "Course that changed a bit after he pushed that guy off the subway tracks. Even got a couple of reporters in here asking him for interviews"

"Yeah, about that." Jeffries said. "You remember any these reporters, anything suspicious about them?"

Roy nodded. "There was one guy. For one thing, this was a couple of months after it happened. Things had kinda died down at that point. Not exactly 'strike while the iron's hot', you know? I remember cause I bought copies of the _Sun_ for a week after that, trying to find the article. Never turned up. At the time I thought maybe it just got cut, but now..."

"Now you're wondering if this guy was up to something else?" Vera finished.

Roy nodded, suddenly looking very uneasy. "Now that I think about it though, that might not even be the worst part."

"What is?" Jeffries asked, looking concerned.

Roy sighed, giving the detectives a disturbed look. "I think I might've helped give the guy some info..."

***

_("Black Black Heart" - David Usher)_

_Standing up from his cubicle, Roy headed over to the water cooler in the hallway, where Victor was still talking to the young man who'd been talking with him for the last few minutes. As he got closer, Roy could see the young man subtly rubbing two fingers against each other on his right hand._

Itching for a smoke, aren't you buddy?_ Roy thought to himself, smiling. _Makes me glad I quit.

"_Hey Vic, you gonna grab some lunch with me?"_

_Victor nodded. "In a few minutes. I was just answering some questions for this guy from the _Sun_."_

"_Oh, another one?" Roy said, chuckling. He turned to the young man and extended a hand. "Roy Cutler." He said, giving a smile._

"_Frank Ellison." The young man responded, shaking his hand._

"_So, yeah, I'll definitely check that place out." Victor said with a smile._

_Frank nodded. "Yeah, you should. The guy's great getting in a lot of hard-to-find stuff, and I'm talking first edition vinyls here."_

_Victor turned to Roy. "Frank here was just telling me about this great little store for that kind of thing."_

_Roy smirked at Victor. "So you finally found someone who's as big a record collector as you, huh?"_

_Frank shrugged innocently. "Well it can't hurt to have something in common with the guy you wanna talk to."_

"_You wanna talk to him about something, ask him why he isn't going up for the big promotion." Roy chucked, tapping Victor's arm with his elbow, to which Victor gave a pained look in response._

_Frank immediately turned to Victor, looking intrigued. "What's that about?"_

_Victor shook his head. "The head of our department's retiring in a couple of months and there's some talk going around about who's gonna take over for him. That's all it is ,though, talk."_

_Roy nodded. "And I said Vic here should throw his hat into the ring." Roy turned to Victor when he shook his head. "Why not? You've been here longer than any of us, you're smart, you always work late anyway. Why not step up?"_

_Frank folded his arms, looking at Victor intently. "Why don't you?"_

"_Because!" Victor said, his voice a bit higher than usual, before pausing himself. "There's probably a bunch of other people who want it more than me. I wouldn't even end up getting it."_

_Roy sighed. "There's only one other guy in the office who's interested, and he's a complete jerk. You just don't wanna compete with him."_

"_What if I don't?" Victor said with a shrug. "Maybe I'm just not a confrontational guy."_

_Roy waved Victor's last comment off and groaned. "It's a waste of talent, if you ask me. Anyway, I'm off to lunch. You're both welcome to join me."_

"_Maybe in a few minutes." Frank said, still staring at Victor. "We just got a few more things to talk about." A trace of a grin appeared on Frank's face. "If you don't mind, of course."_

_Victor quickly shook his head. "No, no, that's fine." He turned to Roy. "I'll see you in a bit."_

_Roy gave Frank a strange look, then headed off. As he headed down the hallway, he could hear Frank and Victor still talking._

"_So about this promotion, you don't think you deserve it?"_

"_No, no. It's not that."_

"_Well, what is then, hmmm?"_

_Roy shook his head and kept walking..._

***

Roy shook his head. "Suddenly, that guy was _real_ interested in Victor and that promotion."

"And they were talking about records before that?" Jeffries asked.

"Yeah, Vic was big time collector."

Jeffries nodded and leaned over to Vera. "Find some common interests, get 'em to open up. Just like he did with Charlie."

"You follow someone around for a while, you can learn what their interests are." Vera said quietly. "Which means he's had these people picked out for days, weeks, maybe months."

Jeffries turned back to Roy. "You were the last one to see Victor the day he disappeared."

"Yeah. There was nothing out of the ordinary." Roy said. "We both worked late, then we went out to our cars. Vic cut through the alley to get to his and that's the last I saw of him."

"Missing Persons report says his car was still parked there and locked the next morning." Jeffries said.

"Meaning if somebody got to him, it was in the alley." Vera added before looking down in thought. "There's some alleyways like that around the office where Laurie Carter works too."

"Audie." Vera said softly to himself.

"Audie?" Jeffries repeated, confused.

"It's a long shot, but I wanna check something out." Vera said to Jeffries, standing up and handing Roy a card. "Thanks, if you think of anything else..." Vera was already halfway out the door when he turned to a puzzled-looking Jeffries. "You wanna take a ride? We just gotta pick something up first."

***

"Audie?" Vera called, tapping on the makeshift shelter in the alley, made of shopping carts and cardboard boxes. "Audie, it's Detective Vera, open up."

Vera and Jeffries heard some rustling inside, and a moment later, the shelter's sole occupant, a short, disheveled man with squinting eyes, finally emerged.

Audie eyed Vera and Jeffries nervously. "I... I can't talk to you. The Upper Echelons don't like me talking to you. They have... listening posts monitoring for that. I can't let them hear me talking to you."

Vera smiled and bent down to reach the grocery bag next to him, pulling out a box of corn flakes. "Not even if I had these?"

Audie's eyes lit up at the sight of the box. "Where did you get this? I thought the Upper Echelons confiscated it all."

Vera shrugged. "I had some stored away for safe keeping." He pulled the box away from Audie slightly. "You gonna talk now?"

Audie quickly nodded and Vera handed him the box. Audie immediately tore the box open, then the bag inside, and immediately scooped up a handful of the cereal.

"The crunching sound drowns out the listening posts." Vera said with a smile to Jeffries. "Shorts them out temporarily. That's why the Upper Echelons banned it."

"Right." Jeffries said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, it's safe to talk now, Audie." Vera said, turning back to the homeless man munching on corn flakes. "You heard about the woman who got abducted here two years ago, worked around here?"

"Uhhh..." Audie's eyes darted around nervously.

"Probably passed by you all the time." Jeffries added.

"Audie?" Vera said with a warning tone. "You know something, now's the time to say it."

Audie looked down at the cereal box, then up at Vera and Jeffries, looking in pain.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I tried to help her."

"Help? How?" Jeffries asked.

"She was always nice." Audie whispered. "She gave me a granola bar once." He shut his eyes tight and shook his head. "The Upper Echelons must not have liked that. That must be why they sent the dark sentinel for her."

"Dark sentinel?" Vera asked.

Audie nodded and pointed to the alley. "He gained her trust, then he came and took her, right here..."

***

_Audie poked his head out of the shelter at the sound of the hard-soled shoes going over the sidewalk at the other end of the alley. Recognizing the woman, Audie watched as she continued walking, stopping at the sight of the young man leaning up against the corner of the wall, taking a puff from his cigarette._

"_Mr. Franklin." Laurie said with a smile. "What are you doing here?"_

_A smirk came over the young man's face. "Please. _Mister_ Franklin is my father. I'm just plain old Ellis. And I'm just following up on another story." Ellis stood up and walked closer to her. "But anyway how's the book coming? You get through any more chapters yet?"_

_Laurie nodded her head. "Just a few. It's really good though. Actually I read something about it online. They say his next book's going to be about some secret society."_

"_Yeah, he hasn't done _that_ before." Ellis said, chuckling._

_Laurie chuckled and shrugged. "Well, I guess he's sticking to what he knows. You can't really blame him for that."_

_Ellis' smile faded. "No, you definitely shouldn't pretend to be something you're not. That's for sure."_

_Laurie chuckled uneasily._

_The young man's smile returned abruptly. "Anyway, what are you doing here this late?"_

_Laurie shrugged. "Uhhh... well, I ended up working a bit later than I meant to. I gotta get home. Ben's probably waiting up for me."_

_Ellis cocked his head. "You don't seriously believe that, do you?"_

"_I'm sorry?" Laurie asked, suddenly feeling nervous._

"_You don't actually think he's home right now, being the faithful husband and all that, do you?" He asked, with a condescending tone, giving her a hateful stare. "Even you're not that stupid."_

_Laurie pulled her arms around herself. "Okay, I don't think I wanna talk to you anymore."_

_She turned away from him, but suddenly a strange smelling cloth was pressed against her mouth and nose._

_Ignoring her muffled screams and increasingly weak struggles, Ellis pulled her to him. "You know perfectly well that he's a liar and a hypocrite." He hissed into her ear, blowing smoke from the cigarette still in his mouth as he did. "Just like you!"_

_Finally she went limp._

"_Hey!" Audie yelled, finally finding his voice after being shocked into silence at the sight. "What are you doing?" He yelled, running towards the young man, now picking up the unconscious Laurie. "Stop! Let her go!" Audie yelled._

_With his free hand, the young man grabbed Audie by the chest and shoved him back into a pile of garbage bags overflowing from a dumpster._

_The young man started walking through the alley towards a white van at the other end, it's loading doors open. As he did, Audie struggled to get up. Seeing this, the young man stopped and bent over him, giving Audie a frightening glare._

"_You can't save her!" He hissed, pulling the cigarette from his mouth. "No one can!" Without another word, he pressed the lit end of the cigarette into the open palm of Audie's hand. Audie cried out in pain, and stumbled back into the garbage pile, while the young man continued carrying Laurie towards the van._

***

"He burned me with his heat laser." Audie pulled the fingerless glove off his right hand and showed his palm, the scar from the burn still visible. "I tried to save her." He said softly, blinking back tears. "I tried."

"Okay, Audie." Vera said solemnly. "It's not your fault."

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything before." Audie continued, lowering his head. "I wish he'd come for me instead."

"White van." Jeffries said quietly to Vera. "That's something."

Audie finally looked up at them again. "I don't care if the Upper Echelons punish me for this." He said, weakly. "Somebody's gotta stop him before he comes for someone else."

"We will, Audie." said Vera.

"And what you told us is gonna help us do that." Added Jeffries.

Audie looked at them a moment, then smiled slightly.

***

"So how many white vans are there in Philly?" Kat said, her vision starting to blur at the piles of vehicle registrations on her desk.

Scotty shook his head, staring at the equally large pile on his own desk. "Too many." He looked around at the dim lights barely lighting the nearly bare Homicide squad. "Would've been nice if this guy of Vera's could've given us a plate or at least a make."

Kat smiled slightly. "Doesn't sound like he was a big car guy."

Scotty chuckled.

Lilly looked up from the pile on her desk as Stillman exited his office and walked over.

"Not exactly a surprise, but there's no record of an Elliott Franks, Frank Ellison, or Ellis Franklin ever working at the Sun"

"Pretty strange choice of aliases." Kat said thoughtfully. "That similar, it doesn't make any sense."

"It does in his mind." Stillman said. "Just not to us."

"That's true." Scotty said with a sigh. "Only one a serial killer makes sense to is a serial killer."

"One thing, though." Lilly said. "What do you think he meant about Laurie and being a liar and a hypocrite?"

"Good question." Stillman nodded. "He said her husband was one too. Maybe we wanna bring him in tomorrow and ask."

Lilly looked over the van registrations. "Think there might be some tracks we missed at the warehouse?"

"It's possible." Scotty said. "Knowing what kind of tread would definitely narrow things down. Might be worth checking out."

"Well, we can take a look in the morning." Stillman said.

Lilly glanced at her watch. "I got time."

Stillman shook his head. "No, you don't. None of us do. Doherty's still on me about overtime, so we're calling it a night."

Lilly opened her mouth to say something, but Stillman cut her off. "Tomorrow." He said, giving Scotty and Kat a look.. The other two detectives, getting the hint, straighten their desks slightly, and went to get their coats.

***

The moonlight crept through the broken windows of the dilapidated warehouse. Stepping over the crime scene tape, Lilly scanned her flashlight around for tire tracks outside, but saw none.

Turning around to see if she missed anything, she suddenly heard a noise coming from inside the warehouse. Drawing her gun, she headed towards the entrance and stepped inside.

The interior looked just as it had before, refuse strewn about. Lilly's eyes panned over the warehouse until they settled on the hidden basement.

She reached the top of the stairs and shone the light down, but saw nothing in front of her. Giving the space besides the stairs a quick look, she stepped down slowly.

The room seemed completely bare. Even the Crime Scene Unit had cleared out everything. It appeared empty, until her eyes fell upon the one remaining thing in the center of the room.

The body.

_Did they find another one?_ Lilly thought, before shaking her head. _We would've heard if they had. _

It was still, covered with a sheet, far too bulky to be another burned body. Lilly shone her flashlight over it and stepped closer.

It was only then that she noticed the faint whispering she was hearing. It sounded like multiple voices, each one echoing, not seeming to come from anywhere in particular. She strained to listen, unable to make them out at fist. After a few moments, however, words started registering with her. Lilly turned around the room as the whispers continued.

"_Once hope is gone, dying is just a formality."_ One voice said.

"_Nothing lasts forever,"_ said another voice over the faint sound of a music box playing.

"_You can only keep the flood back for so long."_ A third voice said.

"_You're not gonna take her from me,"_ said a fourth voice. _"Not again!" _A shot rang out in the distance, spinning Lilly back around to the body.

Breathing heavily, she stepped closer, crouching over it. Setting down her flashlight, but holding onto her gun, she took a hold of the sheet and pulled it back.

What she saw made her draw a quick breath and quickly stand up.

He was just as she'd remembered him, just as she'd seen him last; the clothes, the glasses, even the three bullet holes in his chest.

Then he opened his eyes.

_No, it's not possible._ She thought.

The same smug grin she'd remembered returned to his face as he sat up, then finally stood.

"Hello, Lilly." George said. "Long time, no kill."


	4. Chapter 4

Lilly kept her gun trained on George, breathing heavily. "You're not real." She whispered, shaking her head. "You're dead."

George looked down at the three bullet holes in his chest, then back up at her with a smirk. "Well, you would know, wouldn't you?" He said, looking amused at the look of shock on her face. "I told you before, you sleep with the dead, and you act surprised when you start dreaming about them?" He looked at her gun. "What exactly do you think you're going to do with that, anyway?"

"Why are you here?" Lilly asked, holstering the gun.

George shrugged. "You tell me. It's your mind. I've never put much stock in psycho-babble, but perhaps there's a reason I'm here. Perhaps there's something in you that reminded you of me."

"I'm _not_ like you." Lilly said insistently.

George nodded. "Yes, you've said that before, but then why else would I be here? Maybe I'm a part you'd prefer to pretend didn't exist. The part that was relieved when your waste of a mother finally died. The part that was following that fellow from the military academy, just thinking about what it would be like to give his car a little tap as he goes over a bridge. The part that pointed a gun at a twelve year-old boy and said you _wanted_ to kill him."

"He shot Will. He was trying to shoot at us."

"Well, you'd be surprised what a twelve year-old boy is capable of, with a gun in his hands." George said with a knowing smile. "But as I said, perhaps there's reason I'm here, now."

"A serial killer, like you." Lilly said, thoughtfully.

"One who's very particular in choosing his prey, and in his weapon. Fire, that's a new one."

"And you think _you_ can help?" Lilly asked, with disgust.

"Perhaps what you need..." George said, pulling two glass deer eyes from his pocket and holding them up, "...is a pair of fresh eyes. So go ahead. Ask your questions. Like your boss said, all those years ago, after he caught the bad man who hurt you, as long as you ask the right questions, it's never too late." He gestured to the three charred bodies that had suddenly appeared on the slab in front of him. "Though I think they might disagree."

Lilly kept her eyes on George, staring at him a few moments before finally speaking. "We know the ones he picks, how he gains their trust."

"The lonely ones, the pathetic losers. So quick to believe someone would actually take an interest in their pitiful little lives." George said, pulling out more deer eyes and slowly placing them into the corpses' eye sockets. "We see what we want to."

"But we don't know why." Lilly continued. "Why them?"

George shrugged. "Maybe he's got a beef with people who go around saving lives."

"But then why not a fireman or a paramedic?"

"Or a cop?" George added with a smile. "No, our friend isn't interested in professionals. He's going after people who went above and beyond the call of duty."

"But why _them_? What's his endgame?"

George shook his head. "Oh, this is no game to him. He's got a point to make and he's _very_ insistent on making it."

"Answer me this." George continued. "When some random nobody steps out of the crowd, pushes some old lady our of the way of a speeding bus, what typically happens to that fellow afterward, hmm?"

Lilly said nothing.

George chuckled. "Ticker-tape parade? Human interest story on the six o'clock news? And most of all, what's the dirty little four-letter word people love to use for people like that?"

Lilly sighed. "Hero." She said, finally.

George nodded."Now tell me, what's the likelihood someone would be using chloroform and accelerants to get their point across if that's what they believed?"

"They're not heroes." Lilly said. "Not to him."

"No, they're something far worse in his eyes. They're hypocrites, wearing a mantle they don't deserve." He looked over the three corpses with a smile. "I imagine it's hard to look brave as you watch your own skin melting away."

"But why?" Lilly asked most insistently. "Why does it matter to him?" She looked down in thought. "Does he think he should get credit for saving someone?" She looked up as something occurred to her. "Or was he someone who needed to be saved, but wasn't?"

George grinned in approval. "Didn't it bother you? When the bad man attacked you and no one came to help?"

Lilly hesitated at this, then fixed him a steel glare. "Just like it bothered you, when he attacked you and even your own mother wouldn't help."

His grin twisted into an icy stare. "You have one more 'why' to ask. Now ask it."

Lilly paused for a moment, unsure what to say, until she looked back over at the charred bodies, then back at George. "Why fire? Why does he want to burn them?"

"Why indeed?" George said evenly.

"Is that what no one saved him from? A fire?"

"Burn victims tend to stick out." George said, skeptically. "Surely the fat cook or the office drone would've noticed that."

"The burns might not have been visible under his clothes." Lilly said, shaking her head, before another possibility entered her mind. "Or..."

"Or...?" George said in anticipation.

"He wasn't the one burned." She said, surprising herself. "There was someone else. Someone close to him. Someone no one saved."

George put his hands together in a slow, condescending applause. "You know, in all my years of hunting, it never occurred to me how much more enjoyable it might be to have a partner."

"We're not partners." Lilly said, her tone filled with contempt . "I'm done with you."

"It doesn't work like that." George said. "You can't make me run away like your father and every other man in your life ever did. And this time a few lucky shots won't get rid of me so easily either! I'm a part of you."

"You're not a part me!" Lilly said, starting to breathe heavily.

"Do me a favor." George said, pulling out the handgun and pointing at her. "When you kill him, like you killed me, tell him I look forward to meeting him. We have a lot to catch up on."

"I'm not killing anyone."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"I'm not like you!"

"_You're_ the hunter in the woods now."

"No!" Lilly said, rasing her voice, suddenly noticing her own weapon was raised again. "I'm not you!"

George flashed her one last cruel smile as he raised his gun. "Wanna bet?"

Without hesitating, Lilly fired. The sound that emerged wasn't anything like a gunshot, however. Instead, it sounded far more like the high-pitched buzz of an alarm clock.

Instinctively pressing the button on the clock, Lilly turned over to see Olivia sitting patiently at the foot of her bed.

Lilly closed her eyes and took a breath.

***

The other detectives quickly noticed the worn look in Lilly's eyes as she walked in.

"You get any sleep last night?" Kat asked.

"Too much." Lilly said.

Kat considered responding to this, but decided not to. "We're sifting through white van owners who fit the description."

"Which seems to be pretty much all of them." Grumbled Vera.

"Try cross-referencing any who have a connection to any fire-related death in the last twenty years." Lilly said, causing the other detectives to look up at her.

"Fire deaths?" Jeffries asked.

"Could make sense." Scotty said thoughtfully. "Some guy upset someone he loved wasn't saved."

Lilly shook his head. "I think this is about more than that."

Scotty shrugged. "Anyways we got Ben Carter in Interview 2. I was waitin' for you to talk to Romeo here."

***

"Have you found anything more information on Laurie?" Ben asked, looking at the detectives inquisitively.

"Eh, it's more of a new angle." Scotty said. "It's gotta be hard on a marriage, workin' long hours like that. Not that I'd know." Scotty smirked.

Ben shrugged. "It wasn't always easy, but we made it work."

Lilly nodded. "Still, it must seem like you see your co-workers more than your wife. Can start to flip things around. You start telling a co-worker a joke or a story you don't bother to tell you wife."

"Maybe you start findin' excuses to work late, maybe get some dinner." Scotty continued.

"Go back to her place, or maybe just to a motel." Lilly said.

Ben eyed the two detective. "W- what exactly are you accusing me of?"

"Did you wife know you were steppin' out?" Scotty asked.

Looking at the detective with a forced amount of disbelief, Ben opened his mouth and looked about to say something then sighed.

"I loved Laurie." Ben said quietly, sounding almost relieved. "I never wanted to hurt her."

"Did she know?" Scotty asked pointedly.

Ben nodded. "She found a receipt in my pocket for a motel room. I tried to downplay it, tell her it was for a client from out of town. At the time, it seemed like she believed me, but looking back..."

"You think she must've known." Lilly said.

"I don't understand why wouldn't say anything." Ben said solemnly.

"Maybe she just didn't wanna face the truth." Scotty said.

"I was relieved when she didn't say anything." Ben lowered his head. "Now part of me wishes she had."

***

Hours later, Kat ran her thumb over the piece of tape, sticking the picture to the board. The young man in the picture looked rather unassuming, except for his piercing stare.

"Seth Morrison, thirty-three." Kat announced "Proud owner of a '96 Dodge van, purchased in January '99."

"A few months before the first abduction." Stillman said.

"There's more." Vera said. "Had a sister named Ellie Morrison and father named Frank Morrison."

"Elliot Franks." Scotty said.

"Frank Morrison, I remember him." Stillman said. "Big time firefighter. Twenty-five year veteran of the department."

"Yeah." Jeffries said. "Won all those awards for valor."

"Except in April of 1990, when he took a few months bereavement leave," Kat said. "After his daughter Ellie was killed in a house fire."

"And nine years later Seth starts abductin' people to watch 'em burn, just like his sister did." Scotty said.

"We got an address on Seth?" Stillman asked.

"His name's on the lease of an apartment in Fishtown." Vera said. "Already got Bell waking up a judge."

***

Lilly shone her flashlight around the grungy apartment, flanked by Stillman and Scotty. SWAT officers had already confirmed the apartment clear of any surprises. In the kitchen, Louie shone his light on a half-eaten sandwich next to the filled ashtray on the table.

"Somebody was here, maybe a day ago." He said.

Scotty scanned his light over the sandwich, then to some papers next to it. Each had a black and white picture taped to it, one cut from a newspaper clipping. Scotty immediately recognized the smiling faced in the pictures as Charlie, Victor, and Laurie. Next to each of the pictures on the paper was writing, by hand.

"What is this, some sort of home-made newspaper article?" He asked.

Lilly looked over one of them. "Laurie Carter was celebrated in the papers as a hero for saving a young boy from drowning." She read. "In truth she was a coward and hypocrite. She was too afraid to confront her husband about his obvious infidelities, preferring instead to live in denial, ignoring his actions and allowing them to continue."

Scotty looked over at another article. "Victor Rodriguez was willing to accept credit for saving the life of a man at the train tracks, yet told no one of the cowardice he demonstrated in the workplace, allowing a less qualified co-worker to gain a promotion he'd been entitled to."

Stillman looked down at a third. "Charles Keefe permitted the city to perpetuate the falsehood that he was heroic after foiling the attempted rape of a waitress. In truth, he was paralyzed by the simplest of requests..."

***

"_Look." Seth said, holding up the newspaper and the cigarette, and giving the still groggy Charlie a slap. "Look!"_

_On the slab, Charlie squinted his eyes to look at the paper until he could make out the headline. It was one of the articles that had been printed after the attack in the diner. Amelia was beaming proudly, her arm around Charlie, who was giving a shy smile._

"_You think you're brave?" Seth hissed. "You think it's okay to let them print this when you know better?"_

"_Wh- what are you talking about?" Charlie asked weakly._

"_I saw you." Seth said coldly. "I watched you when you thought I wasn't there. You can take down a rapist without breaking a sweat, but you'd rather do anything than say a few words to a pretty girl."_

"_What?" Charlie asked._

"_You saved the girl's life." Seth continued, putting the cigarette back in his mouth."If she was ever gonna say yes, this is the time. But just asking her out, something men have been doing forever, it terrifies you. You're nothing but a hypocrite." With that, he pulled the cigarette deom his mouth, threw it to the floor and stomped on it, crushing it slowly under his boot. "I hate hypocrites." He said between his teeth. "There's only one thing they deserve."_

***

"So he's calling them out on what he thinks is their hypocrisies." Stillman said. "Trying to prove they're not heroes."

"So these were some sort of personal expose on them." Lilly added.

Behind them, Vera looked around, until he spotted what looked like yet another page, which had fallen under the table. Vera shone his light on the smiling young woman on the page, then leaned back. "Whoa." He said. "Check this out."

The other three officers moved their flashlights to the page on the floor. None of them recognized the young woman, an African-American teen, smiling in the photo.

"This girl's new." Scotty said, uneasily, looking over the page, which had only a paragraph of writing. "Some sort of first draft?"

"Gabrielle Tyler permitted the public to view her as a hero after saving a classmate's life." Lilly read. "She did nothing to dispel this myth as it perpetuated to readers everywhere."

"I don't get it." Vera said. "Usually he picks his victims just before April."

Stillman looked around the abandoned apartment. "He knows he doesn't have until April."

Lilly stared at Angela's photo. "If he found her already, then she doesn't either."


	5. Chapter 5

_(NOTE: You may notice I retconned a name and applied it someone else. I think it just sounds better this way. And to reviewers, please try to be specific in your feedback. Single-sentence reviews like "good story" or "I liked it" don't tell you much. Thanks)_

"Gabrielle Tyler, seventeen." Jeffries announced, placing a report on the desk around which the other detectives were sitting. "Performed CPR on a classmate at school after she stopped breathing three weeks ago. Her mother reported her missing after she didn't come home from the restaurant she was working at last night."

"So he _is_ stepping up his schedule." Stillman said

"Uniforms are staking out the apartment and the warehouse, in case he comes back." Scotty said.

"He's not gonna do that." Vera said, shaking his head. "This guy's crazy, not stupid."

"Then where's he keeping her?" Lilly asked.

"Assuming she's still alive." Scotty said, grimly.

"If he knows we're closing in, then this is probably his last stand." Stillman said. "I don't think he's gonna do it quietly."

"Well maybe it's time we had a talk with Seth's father." Lilly said. "Maybe he can shed some light."

Stillman nodded. "In the meantime, Miller's talking to Gabrielle's mother, seeing if she knows anything."

***

Angela Tyler, an attractive, but modest looking woman in her forties, gripped the cross she was wearing around her neck and took a breath.

"Mrs. Tyler." Kat said, giving her a sympathetic look. "I know this is difficult, but can you think of anyone who might have shown any interest in your daughter in the last few days, maybe asking about her saving that other girl at her school?"

Angela shook her head. "She got her picture in the paper, but that was it. I don't understand. What does that have to do with this?"

Kat paused a moment. "We think someone may have targeted her because of it."

Angela put her hand to her mouth at this. "Oh my God!" She whispered, closing her eyes. "I can't believe this is happening. The last time I saw her I..." She took a deep breath. "She was such a smart girl, hard-working, could've done anything. She just had trouble sometimes believing in herself..."

***

_("Russian Roulette" - Rihanna)_

_Angela looked at her daughter as she pulled into the restaurant parking lot and turned the engine off._

"_Honey, I just want to talk to you about something, okay?"_

_Gabrielle sighed and adjusted her hostess' badge._

"_Look, I know you don't like me bothering you about this, but I think you're writing this off too soon."_

_Gabrielle rolled her eyes but Angela continued. "Look, Princeton is a great school. You have the grades, the academic achievements. You're just the type they're looking for. You know what kind of opportunities you'd have with an education like that?"_

"_And every other kid my age is thinking the same thing, and they're all applying." Gabrielle answered._

"_You've been talking about that school for years," Angela put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "I know you're scared, honey, but you can't let that stop you from going after your dreams."_

_Gabrielle gave her mother a sad look. "I have to go in or I'm gonna be late."_

_Angela sighed and lowered her head as her daughter got out of the car. She watched as Gabrielle walked towards the door, a young man smoking a cigarette giving her a look as she passed him by..._

***

Angela shook her head. "I shouldn't have kept pushing her like that. It was her decision. I just hated the thought of her throwing a chance like that away because she was afraid."

"That man you saw outside the restaurant," Kat said, sliding a picture of Seth towards Angela. "Is this him?"

Angela stared at the picture for a moment, then looked back up at Kat. "Yes, that's him. Is he the one who took her?" Angela started breathing heavily. "Who is that man? Who is he?"

***

Stillman and Lilly gave a nod to the fifty-something man tying down the boat at the end of the marina.

"Frank Morrison?" He asked, getting a nod in response.

"Lieutenant John Stillman and Detective Lilly Rush" Stillman said, extending a hand. "We met at one of your award ceremonies, the one back in '98."

"Oh yeah, those." Frank said with a groan. "Only thing about the job I don't miss. I was just doin' my job. I never wanted anyone putting me up on a pedestal like that."

"Nice boat." Stillman said with a smile, inspecting the craft. "A lot nicer than the one I got."

The bearded, middle-aged look the boat over and gave a shrug. "Well, we've had good days and bad, but the price was right." Frank then turned back to Stillman uneasily. "Something tells me you're not here to talk about boats though, are you?"

"Frank, have you heard from your son Seth recently?" Stillman's smile faded as his voice took on a more serious tone.

"Seth?" Frank looked puzzled. "I haven't heard from him in ages. What's this about?"

Lilly took a breath. "We think Seth may have been involved in the abduction of a young woman last night."

"What!?" Frank said, recoiling. "Where did you get that idea?"

"Her picture was found in his apartment." Lilly continued. "We also found pictures of three other people who'd been reported missing over the years." Lilly paused for a moment. "We found the remains of the other three a few days ago."

Frank shook his head. "No, that's a mistake! You got the wrong guy!"

"Frank, I know this is hard to hear, but we've got eye-witnesses that put Seth interacting with all four of the victims before they disappeared." Stillman said softly. "Now I wanna bring him in safe, but that'll be a lot harder if something happens to this girl first."

Frank shook his head. "No, this is wrong! Seth had some problems growing up, but he's not a kidnapper and he's certainly not a murderer!"

"Problems?" Stillman asked.

Frank sighed. "It wasn't easy for him growing up. His mother took off after his sister was born. He had trouble making friends. I tried to be a good father but my job kept me away a lot and I'm not sure I always did my best when I was there. I think his sister was the only one he was close to." Frank blinked as his eyes began to moisten. "She was always writing, wanting to a journalist, he always loved that."

"Frank..." Stillman said, gently.

"It was my fault, what happened, what I said..." Frank said, looking tired and far away.

"What you said?" Lilly asked.

"It's every fireman's worst nightmare, what happened." Frank shook his head. "But what I said after, that's what haunts me..."

***

_As Frank's car screeched to a stop outside the burning house, he leapt out and stared in horror. One of the group of firefighters outside rushed over to him._

"_Frank, Frank!" The firefighter yelled as Frank rushed towards the house._

"_My kids!" Frank yelled. "Where are my kids!?"_

"_Seth's fine!" The firefighter said calmly. "He got out of there okay."_

_Frank looked over to see the twelve year old boy sitting in the back of the ambulance, paramedics standing over him. Frank ran over and pulled the boy into a hug._

"_Seth, Seth." He whispered for a moment, gripping the boy tight as he could, before pulling back. "Where's Ellie? Where's your sister? Did you see her in the house before you got out?"_

_The boy nodded. "I... I was scared" Seth said softly. "I'm sorry."_

_A look of horror passed over Frank's face as he turned back to the firefighter._

"_I'm sorry, Frank." The other man could only shake his head and give a sad look. "I'm sorry."_

_Frank looked as though he was about to lose his footing for a moment. "No.... no. No! God, no!" He then swung back around to his son. "We had drills. I taught you what to do if there was a fire." He continued, raising his voice. "I told you to look out for your sister!"_

_He grabbed the boy by his arms and shook him. "Why didn't you help her!?" Frank screamed as Seth stood there, horror in his eyes. "Damn you! Why!?"_

_The firefighter pulled Frank back. "Frank, hey! Come on! Easy, he's just a kid."_

_Frank stepped backwards, then stumbled to the ground, weeping._

_Seth was still standing there, a far-off look of horror still etched on his face..._

***

"The inspectors found out later some idiot neighbor'd knocked over an ashtray with a lit cigarette in it. The fire spread to our house before anyone could do anything." Frank said.

The two detectives said nothing.

"I didn't know what I was saying." Frank continued hoarsely. "I apologized later, but still, there was always something different about him. It's like he was still living at that point. God forgive me, but nothing I said or did after that seemed to help. He ran away when he was eighteen. I tried to track him down a couple of times, but he made it clear he wanted to be alone." Frank looked at the detectives, heartbroken. "I think I lost both my kids that day, but one of them was my doing."

"Frank, can you think of anywhere he'd go? Anywhere he'd feel safe?"

Frank shook his head. "I wish I did. I really do."

Lilly looked down for a moment, her mind racing, when two words passed through her head, just for a moment.

_The woods._

"The house where it happened, is it still standing?" She asked.

Frank looked at her, slightly confused, then nodded. "We moved after that. Developers bought up the whole block a couple of years ago but they went out of business before they could break ground."

Lilly looked at Stillman, who nodded, before turning back to Frank.

"The house." Lilly said urgently. "Where is it?"

***

In the grungy basement, Seth stared at the newspaper article on the table before looking over at Gabrielle, still screaming through the gag and pulling at her plastic restraints. It didn't matter. She couldn't break them. He hadn't had time to get her out of the clothes, and the gag had been a necessary change, but he was sure no one would hear her screams in this deserted neighborhood anyway.

_This is where I should have been along,_ he thought. Doing it elsewhere had been a mistake.

_And that wasn't the only mistake I made,_ he thought, setting down his cigarette and picking up the gas can.

Gabrielle's screams got louder as he doused her body with gasoline, then raised the can over his head and let the fuel pour out, all over his own body.

***

Outside the sirens grew louder and the lights brighter as the small fleet of police cars sped towards the house.

***

Shaking the last few drops from the gas can, Seth threw it aside, then picked up the newspaper.

"You still think you're brave?" He asked, showing her the article, as she continued struggling and screaming.

Seth then turned the newspaper back towards him and reached for the cigarette.

"Seth, stop!"

Seth spun around at the female voice coming from the stairwell. The female detective was pointing a gun at him and stepping towards her.

"Help me, please!" Gabrielle pleaded through the gag.

"Let her go, Seth." Lilly said.

Seth looked at her for a moment. "I can't do that."

"I know why you're doing this" Lilly said calmly.

Seth gestured at the struggling Gabrielle. "She's just like all the others, letting them put her on a pedestal when she knows it's a lie. People have to see the truth, that--"

"That she's afraid?" Lilly asked.

Seth nodded.

"Like you were?" She continued. "When your sister died?"

Seth closed his eyes in pain for just a moment. "I wanted to save her. I wanted to be like my dad was, I wanted--"

"I know." Lilly said softly. "I know."

Seth's eyes narrowed. "You don't know anything."

"I knew someone like you once. Someone who saw people he thought were brave and strong, and hated them for it, who wanted to make them pay, because he wasn't strong enough when he needed to be. That's what this is really about, isn't it?"

Seth shook his head in confusion.

"You couldn't save her. You weren't strong enough or brave enough." Lilly gestured at the trembling Gabrielle. "That's why you hate her, and all the others. But it didn't make you feel better, did it? Otherwise you wouldn't have to keep to doing it, so what makes you think it'll be different now?"

Seth raised his arm, showing the gasoline dripping from it. "Because I'm going to do what I should've done all along, what I should've done here."

"Die?" Lilly asked shaking her head. "That's what he thought he needed to do in the end. That won't work either. All you'll do is leave people with the same feelings you had, the same questions. 'Why couldn't I save him?' 'Why wasn't I strong enough?'"

"I know what that's like, to lose someone I love." She continued. "Someone you'd give anything to save, to be strong enough for her. I know how it feels after they're gone. Don't do that to someone else."

Seth backed away from Gabrielle and collapsed into a corner. Lilly turned away and waved in two uniform officers who rushed over to Gabrielle's side and began to cut her free. Lilly crouched down next to Seth.

"You're just like they were." He said weakly. "They understood in the end too."

"The others?" Lilly asked, looking at him intently.

Seth nodded. "They wanted to help me, even after everything that happened. I convinced myself they weren't brave in the end. But they were." Seth looked at her. "And that just made it worse..."

***

"_You still think you're brave?" Seth said._

"_Please." Charlie whispered from his raw throat between breaths. "Please, why are you doing this?"_

"_You still think you're brave?" Seth repeated. Not waiting for an answer, he pulled the cigarette from his mouth and pressed it gently against the newspaper until a small flame started. As the fire grew, the man walked over to Charlie, holding it closer to him._

"_Did you lose someone?" Charlie asked weakly._

_Seth stopped in his tracks. "What?"_

"_Is that what this is about?" Laurie asked, a hint of curiosity emerging from the fear in her eyes. _

"_Someone you couldn't save?" Victor asked. "Is that it?"_

_Seth took a step back uneasily._

"_That's it, isn't it?" Laurie said, surprised. "You couldn't save someone."_

"_And you're trying to prove something, aren't you?" Victor said._

"_Stop." Seth said quietly. " Stop it."_

"_It's all right, you don't have to do this." Charlie said._

"_Who was it?" Laurie asked reassuringly. "Someone you cared about?"_

"_Someone you loved?" Victor asked._

"_Stop." Seth said weakly._

"_It's all right." Charlie said calmly. "Tell me what happened."_

"_STOP IT!!!" Seth suddenly screamed, throwing the burning newspaper down on their body, which was immediately engulfed in flames. Seth tried to look, but the heat was too intense, forcing him to look away._

_His breathing grew quicker as a whimper escaped his lips. Then another, before he finally fell to the floor, sobbing profusely._

_Seth laid there weeping long after the fire had burned itself out._

***

("Superman (It's Not Easy)" - Five For Fighting)

Angela quickly emerged from the crowd as she saw the uniformed officers walking her daughter, wrapped in a blanket, from the house. She ran towards Gabrielle and the two threw their arms around each other.

Lilly watched for a moment before turning to see Stillman and Jeffries walking the handcuffed Seth out of the house towards the police van. As they placed him inside, Seth gave her a solemn look, which Lilly returned, before they closed the door...

Tom gave Amelia a friendly nod and wave as she walked into the diner. She waved back as he passed by, giving her a pat on the arm as he did. She turned to the table in the corner where Charlie was still typing away on his laptop. He stopped and looked up, giving a smile as he saw her. As she looked back wistfully, Charlie continued smiling until he faded away. Amelia blinked back tears and smiled...

In storage, Scotty and Vera stacked the three case boxes in with the others, Vera giving one of the boxes a light punch as he did. As Vera walked away, Scotty turned around where Victor and Laurie were looking back at him, content. The two faded away and Scotty gave the boxes one last look, before walking away.

Lilly looked out over the vacant lot. The house that had stood there had been demolished by the city nearly three years ago, the debris nearly all removed. Looking down at the start of the walkway, however, she could make out the rusted remains of a mailbox peeking out from under the dirt. Barely legible on it was the faded name MARKS. Lilly stared at it for a moment, before bringing herself to turn away, and walk back towards her car.

Stillman gave Frank a nod as he walked towards the holding cell. He stood there silently in front of the bars until Seth looked up, first confusion, then disbelief showing on Seth's face. Seth finally raised his hands, placing his hands over the bars. Frank placed his own hands over his son's. Seth looked down at their hands, then up at his father, a hint of a smile appearing on his face...

Angela kissed Gabrielle gently on the head as she sat down at the computer. The mother and daughter gave each other a smile, before Angela walked off. Gabrielle looked at the screen, Princeton's mailing address already on it, took a deep breath, and began to write.

THE END


End file.
